Thinking of opening my home daycare back up...

Lindsay

I have been back in Michigan for a month..Haven't had much luck finding a job.. When I left Michigan 12 years ago I shut down my thriving home daycare to leave.I just left a cushy job at a hospital in Ky in their employee daycare..When I left I swore that I would never do daycare again:))) I now know after relaxing and taking a nice long vacation that I was getting away from the other employees not the children..Children don't bother me..the other adults and their drama made it a very stressful job..So (yes) here I am sitting at the computer going over what I have to do to reinstate my licence....lol I can only take 6 children(that is all you are allowed in Michigan unless you go group and I don't want too)but I haven't decided which ages..I am going to check what this area needs but when you look for daycares tell me what your thoughts and wants and needs are...I don't plan on doing a cirriculum but will have access to lots of learning toys(montessori type and hands on, not much computerized)..LOTS of fresh air and good plain natural food...Gice me your thoughts and what you wish your childs daycare provided....Thanks...

michgirl

If you don;t mind me asking where are you located?

K&H

A huge criteria for me would be absolutely no tv, ever. Also, how much do the kids get outside, even in the cold of winter. Can you provide, or have the kids bring, winter snow suits so that they get outside every day, unless the weather is horrific? Also important to me would be the food, as you've said. As a parent I would want a lot of info with ideas of what you mean on all these topics, so a book or "new parent handbook" would be really helpful for me, with lots of pictures and examples!

Good luck, job searching is horrible!

Lindsay

Michgirl I live in the Newaygo county area...Thanks K&H...I would provide alot of that I am big on outside too..I used to get so irritated at the daycare I worked for in Ky..They wouldn't go outside hardly to save their lives...We don't do much if any Tv during the week at all here..hadn't thought about it much with daycare..But that is something that would probably come naturally here as well because of that..Espessially if a parent really requested it...Thanks for responding..Lets me know I am on the right road....

Kari

I like that my kids' daycare groups same-age kids together, that they have scheduled outdoor and activity times, and that they provide daily recap sheets. I wish they provided lunch because packing 3 breakfasts and lunches every day takes up so much time! Plus I have to pack all of Juliet's bottles and snacks. I would suggest either having a preschool program (shorter hours and pretty high demand, plus you have similar-aged kids) or taking in infants because there are so few openings for them. You'd only have to do that once and then you'd have a group that grows with you.

ETA: field trips to kid-friendly things like going apple picking or visiting a farm. The kind of activities the parents wish they had more time to provide. Sometimes they even do music or cooking classes at my kids' daycare, too.

annerbones

No tv is important to me as well. Lots of outside time, the daycare I work at is outside 4-5 hours a day.

Lots of song, books and child engagement.

Zen

0-1: lots of time holding and cuddling and feeding my baby. Safe toys. Safe floor/tummy time.
1-2: still time for holding and cuddling, safe play area, toys, music.
2-3: indoor and outdoor play, learning activities (colors, numbers, etc).

I was never anti-TV but it should be limited, not on all day as the main stimulation for the kids.

By age 3 I wanted the structure and routine of a preschool for my child

fisch

We have always gravitated toward the small in home day cares, and have been through a few of them. We just found a small in-home montessori with 4 other kids, Emerson makes 5. It is the perfect amount of kids, and I love the set up. I was a little skeptical about the montessori component, but Emerson is thriving with the routine, and independence she is learning there.

I can tell you things I didn't like at the other day cares we tried (these are a combination of my son's day care that he attended for almost 3 years and the first place our daughter went for the first 6 months of her day care provision before we moved her to her current day care/montessori) Even though the list sounds negative, we loved both the providers, and there were enough great things about them that kept us there for the time we spent there and our kids loved them as well. The ones with the astericks are the ones from the last place our daughter attended. We didn't like that one enough to stay longer than the 6 months we were there:
- messiness, toys everywhere, dirty floors, too many pets in the house
- not clean enough, children all constantly ill
- so clean that bleach and simple green smell are overwhelming*
- not enough outside time*
- no quiet places to nap*
- people in the house that I didn't recognize*
- no set routine for eating/naps/play
- no organization, scattered
- kids in program/day care are bratty, no manners, throw tantrums, and are generally rude and ill-behaved*
- day care providers kids' are bratty, too close in age to participants
- only one provider, so if she is ill then day care closes
- provider tolerates biters, or other anti-social behaviors and doesn't know how to ask parents to move on or when she has reached her limitations in working with difficult children
- Let's sick children attend, and then everyone gets sick
- Keeps her own children home sick "quarantined" but then lets them out to play with day care kids when they are feeling "better" later that day

Best of luck! More warm, loving, great home day cares are needed in most communities.

K&H

Ooh, Kari may have hit something with the preschool idea. H looked into that a bit before she decided to stay at home/ work part time. You could have a morning three hour shift and an afternoon tree hour shift and make quite a bit of money. Where we are at least preschool is very expensive.

Lindsay

K&H wrote:

Ooh, Kari may have hit something with the preschool idea. H looked into that a bit before she decided to stay at home/ work part time. You could have a morning three hour shift and an afternoon tree hour shift and make quite a bit of money. Where we are at least preschool is very expensive.

I will keep that in mind...I applied for a really nice postion in the school system in their program this morning..If I am offered I will take it because it is in an area I love and will move too..Plus it has the private school I really want Lily to go to...If I don't get it though I still have my list going:)))